New Video Interview by Jeff

[Dreamor]

Not sure if this has been posted already, apologies if it has....

From the man at the top...

TRAILERWELTEN - Video: Warhammer Online - Videointerview mit Jeff Hickman

During the interview Jeff answered a few questions which revealed the following:

- Changing appearance as you level won’t make it into the game.

- Dwarf Mounts are the only mount that hasn’t been decided upon and its almost certain that it won’t be the mechanical chariot shown in concept art.

- City Sieges will be instanced thus restricting the number of participants per instance. 75v75

- Raids. Mythic doesn’t believe in them.

Gutted on a few bits and pieces, Dwarf Beards being one... City Sieges (understandable given the lag so much PVP in 1 place creates...)

 

[chipper]

quite gutted about the city sieges thats pretty crap if daoc could support 500+ why cant war 5-6 years later? be really dissapointed if this is the case, from a balance point of view it makes sense i suppose after all if any lessons were lerned it was that hib and mid struggled against superior alb numbers on relic raids

but thats what made it fun it was fun been the underdog and holding back a superior force

as for no raids cant say im fond of em to start with they ruined wow for me with the 40 mans but the 25 mans werent too bad and darkness falls and dare i say toa were alot of fun first time round

 

[Lexa]

If city sieges are instanced that would imply that you could have more than one running at once, what then happens if one is successful and the other isn't.

When one does happen you can be sure a lot more than 75 people will be involved from each side.

 

[Kremlik]

75 vs 75? and instanced?!!!

Whats the freaking point of city seging then if only a small percenage can actally be active in the final battle? It would make cence if the inner city was instanced however if the whole city is they've sorry to say just killed all hopes for the DAoC players to convert to WAR and just made AoC look a whole lot better on the pvp front and it's more a gobal battle then a 'first come = winner' event

Mythic really looks like it can't keep half the stuff they said the game would 'correct' whats wrong with MMOs now the game is getting further to compleation.. I'm hoping they find a way to change that amount post release and soon otherwise WAR's version of RVR is no better then any PVP in MMOs out there once in gets released.

Atm I'm dissapointed, hoping in works out better

 

[Cerbos]

This is not good at all... I knew it! They are taking away the awsome and unique parts of the game and instead making a new WoW.

I might buy Requiem, Aion or AoC instead...

 

[chipper]

im starting to think about cancelling my pre order dont like that announcement at all

 

[adoNix]

This is very bad... i hope they can work that out... or else i might go to AoC instead aswell..
It's like punching themselves in the face.. braging of how warhammer is gonna change mmo's etc and it turns out to be the shame crap as WoW?
If i want WoW i play wow... not warhammer.
75 vs 75 will be like Alterac valley in wow.

 

[Cerbos]

Very good Mythic! Start bringing the bad news as soon as everyone has preordered CE!

 

[Kremlik]

Well TBH looking thro most of the data, other then the City Seige limitation, it's still more DAoC like not wow thankfully, like I said I hope the instance side of the seige is the inner part only, still public quests and the tomb still blow anything else out of the water..

At least unlike AoC/Funcom Mythic havn't opted for the teired instanced raiding option, if they did then IMHO i'd tell them to ^&**^ their ^&%$ and $^&**

 

[chipper]

everything else about the game seems great im just really worried about this shitty siege thing, i have a feeling its to stop a realm thats over populated to simply keep raiding a city but still 75 is a pretty low number take it up to at least 200 think mythic should remember that even in daoc you could succesfully defend a keep with about a 1/3rd of what the enemy had

 

[Kremlik]

yea i agree with you it really should scale to the server pop online imo but i thought the relm debuffs/buffs where the 'server balance' but yea i agree Mythic is trying too hard with the server balance with too many restricions, in a sence to some 'dumbing down rvr to be fair' but war is never 'fair' and some players actally prefer being the underdog most of the time, hell for one my guild prefer it, more chances of combat

 

[Lexa]

We must be missing something as it doesn't add up to what we have been told.

As far as I could tell from the Paris videos city sieges are instance based to knock down the doors.

Once in its a free for all with several public quests, there is an option for people to enter the city hours later and kill/loot the stuff that re spawns. The benefit to the first in is the ability to kill/loot the spawn once only things. Also there are dungeons in the city which we can do.

None of that makes sense if the whole city is limited to a 75 man instance.

I'm sure they will let us know what they mean soon enough, don't panic yet.

 

[Kremlik]

Going over my own notes from interviews now the 75 vs 75 isn't that big of a deal, actally i think it helps:

As said before there are two parts to the city the outer walls and the inner city, now i'm 100% sure that the outerwalls are on the world server and the inner city section, for at least the actal seige, turns instanced; as once in, the inner city from what the notes say becomes a knockout battle, once killed, your out of the inner city..

Last ones remaining either save the city or 'unlock' the content, so 75 vs 75 is perfectly fine if the same system is in place from decribed in the interview, therefore it wont take forever for an outcome like as previusly compeared to WoW's AV which before TBC with the cycling of players could last for a day.

Even tho the seige with that in place may only last a few hours it's better then the whole system stall while waiting on the city to be fort over as unlike WoW's AV the city does affect content within the game

 

[Reza]

We must be missing something as it doesn't add up to what we have been told.

As far as I could tell from the Paris videos city sieges are instance based to knock down the doors.

Once in its a free for all with several public quests, there is an option for people to enter the city hours later and kill/loot the stuff that re spawns. The benefit to the first in is the ability to kill/loot the spawn once only things. Also there are dungeons in the city which we can do.

None of that makes sense if the whole city is limited to a 75 man instance.

I'm sure they will let us know what they mean soon enough, don't panic yet.

From what I understood of the video, you have instances (if the numbers are large enough) of up to 75 v 75 each to determine who controls the city. The way that is determined is by looking at the net results of all the instances and determining which side won overall.

If the attackers win this battle to determine control of the city, they can then enter the city and pillage etc. The attackers are given exclusive access to the city for a set period of time (he mentioned around 12 hours but yet to be confirmed) in which anyone from the attacking realm can log on and enter the newly captured city. Once in the city the attackers can complete alot of quests, some of which are one time only and thus offered as a bonus to those who enter first (ie those who fought for and won control).

The defending realm during the period of the attackers having exclusive control can not enter the city, but those who were left inside when control switched remain inside to fight till they die. Once the exclusive period for the attackers is over, the defenders can then enter to attempt to regain control (it wasnt clear to me how this part was done).

 

[Dervish]

Yeah what Reza said. Jeff made it very clear that only the fight to gain total and exclusive control of the city would be instanced and only then if needs be. After that access to the city is totally open to the winning side.

 

[chipper]

thats good i suppose that everyone still gets access etc but so many ppl gonna miss out on the best bit the mindless slaughter!

 

[Lexa]

Well simple fact is when a city looks likely to be sieged everyone on the server will go there.

75 vs 75 doesn't sound that satisfying and severely limits your effectiveness of the outcome to just one instance.

Essentially those guilds that can kill many times their own number won't be able to.

All that said though if it really does turn out to be pants there is still a chance to change it. Just have to wait and see.

 

[Dervish]

What annoys me most is the stream of what now appears to randomly be hype eminating from EA Mythic about the game. How are the marketing guys letting some of those podcasts, particularly involving Barnett, out of the door? The whole "Bear Paw" quest model thing which it turns out is only a very minor part of the quest system. Now the whole thing of physical character development matching your level (Orks get bigger, Dwarves beards get longer etc) is now not likely to happen. I know that neither are game breakers but how the hell have they been allowed to let us believe all this stuff only to now casually turn around and say "oh yeah we like it and have been thinking about it since pre-production but it's not likely to make it into the game".

Given all the stick the marketing dept has been given from certain quarters you'd be forgiven for thinking they are REALLY on top of all this and now we're finding that a lot of what we have heard is vapourware. I'm no doomsayer but what else should we now be suspicious of? It certainly has dialled my confidence down a bit if only in their publicity machine. I know they have to hype it up for sales but isn't all this a bit too far?

 

[Kremlik]

I do agree with you Derv, but it's been true of all MMOs if not all games, ideas ultimatly in the end may not be completly practical when they come into play, WoW's 'orginal idea' was more on the lines of DAoC, and TR completly revamped itself twice, but both those examples reflect two ends of what really matters with those changes, what the game is actally designed for.

With these edit outs we are getting with Mythic and these limitation havn't really changed the game design at all, it's still RVR focused and it's still a good game it's not like they've flipped it so it's more PVE item raid grinding at the last second

Anywho the 75 vs 75 is more about time i think for then server load like I said the whole game practically stops everywhere else in that zone cluster while the city seiging is in place, if the place took days not hours then what are the non-seiging players (ie low-mid levlers) ment to do for RVR? They can't gain anything for their relm if the citys are already 'unlocked', but I do think the 75 limit would be increased over time when the number of teir 4 players increase.

With the 'bear paw' quest feature I don't expect a massive complete change to happen only to stop the damn annoning back tracking and re-killing to happen, the quests will still be the same types but it'll trim down a lot of wasted time and effort, my main consern is the Tomb thats the big thing in questing.

With the 'growth in character design' with leveling I'm am hugly disapointed with it as with greenskins it would have stayed very true with their lore at least, but it's understandable if it's not practical at this point even if they could code it in the diskspace required and patching times would increase prehaps post launch or in an expantion we may see it, but at least the trophy system is still in

 

[Dervish]

I agree. This IS going to be a great game but it annoys me that EA Mythic have gone out of their way to engage people in the build process and build up confidence, expectation and - although I hate the word - hype but without being ultra careful to say something like "everything you are seeing and hearing about the game is subject to change or may be removed etc". That kind of warning is a bit negetive I suppose but it should be in there especially in 'those' podcasts. I know how these things work and the competiton EA Mythic are up against but they don't do themselves justice with this sort of thing. The "bear paws" quest stuff got a lot of people really excited which is good but at the same time people will just as easily be pissed off when they hear about how it really works (or in this case doesn't). I'm talking about waiverers who are choosing their next big game for instance. I know they've never actually had the super intelligent but technically impossible to implement total quest type so they can't really complain if they never get it but to "give it" then take it away is not good.

I'm a huge fan of Mythic and want WAR to be the best it can be within the boundaries of what is realistically possible. I believe the announced delays are correct in this context. I believe the base idea of the game - RvR from day one - is the main focus and very welcome. I believe their decision to be so open with the masses regarding the production of the game is to be applauded but it comes at the cost of sometimes letting TOO MUCH info out at times or not presenting it in context or without the warnings I described earlier. If the marketing guys could tighten up a bit I would be happier. We all have a part to play in marketing the game and I for one as am excited now as I ever have been but the nearer to release we get the more properly informed we all need to be if release is to be the huge success we all want it to be.

 

[Kremlik]

Well you have to give Mythic props to be completly open about it's content and it's changes, most have hid behind a NDA before giving you hints on the game but you never feel like you know what you are buying until the 'final product' (term lossly consering) is in your hands, then it could be completly different to what was given.

Both things have there double egded swords it seems, Mythic have opted to explain everything that are doing in a non-press converence kind of way, it's not techical dribble full of buzz words to make it sound instering it's understandable by all, thats good, I felt like we know what the game is even a year before it's projected release.

However because most weren't actally implemtned and tested they were just ideas, ideas we actally like, and as normal with ideas, it generated hype behind it, so which like the character 'growth' feature which isn't practical to code at this time it's a bit of a blow to find out that it's no longer going to be in the 'finished product', which we may not have even know it exsisted if Mythic wasn't so open about details of the game, but then again it's possibily good that we know about it because Mythic may continue to try and work it in post-release as it's a feature we actally like.

So it's basically a double edged sword moment.

 

[Aesgir]

You guys are missing the important news here, the Dwarfs might not get beer powered buggys

The actual instancing of the city siege as said in the video is just the 75 vs 75 in the inner area (and he does state only the inner area so the outside is still a standard siege) if more than 75 turn up. Then they start shutting them down when they need to. That's fair enough for me, as it means those with the lower end comps aren't gonna be left standing there unable to do anything from lag or going linkdead. A major problem with RVR in daoc sadly, and one i'm actually pretty glad they've addressed.

I still don't like the idea of scenarios, but i can see the instancing here as a valuable and sensible thing. Once you break down the inner gate you are in, all instances are down and you and all your mates can party and pillage.

I am however also disappointed with the news that its not likely the visible character growth will make it in the game. But i'd hate for them to focus on that rather than something game breaking. I'd like it in, but it won't make me not play the game if my character just has to look cool with them orc skulls hanging from his belt.

 

[Dervish]

Totally. Limit the instancing where possible to make things managable. At least the scenarios might help to placate the "ffs don't add" 8v8 brigade - something for everyone.

But - imagine being a dwarf and drunk-in-charge of a rocket propelled open-backed mini...

 

[Kremlik]

Thats pritty much like I said
Unlocked City
Round 1: Outer city - FFA seige
Round 2: Inner city - Instanced knockout round possibile Winner rewards
Round 3: Inner Santum - FFA Public Questing and City Relocking
Locked City Zonal reset

but yea... mourn the lack of beer truck

 

[adoNix]

I think they should really increase the amount of players in the instanced knockout round to about 125 or 150 to get more of the "epic battle" feeling.

 

[svartalf]

Don't miss the other videos up there ^^ in the video section...

Well I thought I would post this here for some of the people who don't read the other WAR fan sites so much.

• Main Presentation - Part 1 & Part 2 w/ Jeff Hickman & Josh Drescher (Right click & Save)
• Presentation with Jeff (including speculation about Growth System)
• Gamespy's Altdorf Video
• Capital Cities video presentation w/ Kate Flack & Josh Drescher (Right click & Save)
• Altdorf Walkthrough video w/ Mike Stone
• Inevitable City Walkthrough video w/ Mike Stone
• Character Development video presentation w/ Adam Gershowitz (Right click & Save)
• Trophies video presentation w/ Justin Webb
• Armor Dyes video presentation w/ Justin Webb
• Crafting video discussion w/ Justin Webb
• Tome of Knowledge video presentation w/ Carrie Gouskos
• Archmage gameplay video
• Sorc PVE & Crafting Video
• Shadow Warrior in Altdorf & Swordmaster PvE gameplay
• Sorcerer PvE & Crafting video
• New Screenshots

WAR Career Preview Video with Adam Gershowitz: The Disciple of Khaine | Ten Ton Hammer <<< Disciple of khaine details

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service <<< Disciple in RvR, nice action but the camera is a bit shaky!

WAR Career Preview Video with Adam Gershowitz: The Swordmaster | Ten Ton Hammer <<< Swordmaster details, looks very nice !